Truths, Secrets and Lies
by Rhadeya
Summary: When a surprise event turns Coulson's life upside down, he must come to terms with his past, accept the present and see what his future holds... Tie in with "Only Time Will Tell", Please R


**Author's Note**: This is set in the period before "The Bridge" but after "Repairs". It will probably go on after the events of The Bridge but not sure yet where it's going to go :)  
It also heavily ties in with my Avengers story "Only Time Will Tell"...

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**1. The price paid**

After the recent and trying events with Hannah and Tobias, Phil Coulson had made the executive descision that his team should get a few days R&R. Two days after leaving Hannah, now debriefed and no longer blamed for the deaths at the plant, the Bus had set down in a remote section of the Nevada desert. With some spending money and an order not to get into trouble during the next four days, Coulson had sent the team off to enjoy some well earned down time.

Regularly checking the GPS signals from each of their phones, Phil kept a loose eye on his team while they were away from the Bus. For himself, knowing he wasn't able to risk seeing anyone who had known him before he died, he found quiet comfort in the solitude of the empty plane. It gave him time to reflect on his life before he died, and how different things had been since then. He smiled wryly as he thought of his first meeting with Agent Ward and the way he had pranked him by stepping out of the dark corner. He also recalled Maria's remark about the length of time he was dead seeming to extend each time the story was told.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure how long he had been dead for.

One thing he did know was that he regretted not being able to tell his friends or family, those outside of SHIELD, that he was alive. Only those with the organisation, and who had level 7 clearance or higher, knew of his resurrection. His friends, his girlfriend and the Avengers all thought he had perished at the hands of the Asgardian Loki. Not being able to ease their pain hurt him more than he would ever let on, but his team needed him to be their rock, the glue that held them all together. Still, it was hard for him to go through each day knowing he had lost a woman he had been falling in love with, as well as some very good friends who had avenged his death.

But the hardest thing of all was not being able to visit Amelia.

He'd stopped in to see his baby sister the day before Loki had come through the portal and taken the Teseract, along with two of his friends. And when he had died, his last thought was of how his death would affect his kid sister.

When he got back from Tahiti, the first thing he had done was try to leave to see her, and been told by Director Fury that he could never see her again. So, against orders and risking his career, he had tapped into the wireless video feed from the cameras that he'd had installed in Amelia's house after the attack.

Now, sat in total privacy with the team out on shore leave, he had the feed live on the large screen in his office. He knew that Clint Barton had taken on the responcibility which Phil had left with him. He also knew it couldn't have ben easy for Hawkeye, recovering from his own harrowing experience with Loki, to take on looking after yet another of the Asgardian's unwitting victims. The three of them were tied together by a lot of past history, and their abuse at Loki's hands just wove their lives more firmly together.

"Oh Lia, I so wish you could know I'm still here," he murmured softly. His heart had broken each time he watched the feed, seeing her broken body and vacant expression. He had watched over the months as Clint tried to draw her out of her shell, feeling elated the first time she had actually focused on him. She had yet to speak, or interact with more than simple gestures, but he knew she was on the long road to recovery.

He just wished he could be part of that miracle.

He had cursed SHIELD when he watched Clint explain to her that he had been killed prior to the Battle of New York. The look of utter devestation on her face had nearly caused him to head straight back to the US to see her. He had been on the verge of doing just that when Malekith had turned up in London, after which his team had been drafted in to assist with the cleanup. Since then, he'd had no time to himself to allow him to check on his sister and was glad of the privacy that let him do so now.

"I know Clint will look after you, Li-Li," he told her, wishing not for the first time that she could hear him. "He'll help you come back from the dark place that Loki took you to," he promised. He was about to turn the feed off when he stopped, his hand frozen in shock. Amelia had turned her head and was looking directly at the camera whose feed was on his screen. As he watched in amazement, she focused on the exact location of the hidden camera and smiled.  
"And I will help you come back from your dark place, 'frills'," she said, words slow but voice clear. She hadn't called him 'frills' since she'd been a teenager but hearing her call him by her cute pet name for him made his heart soar. He was sure she hadn't heard him, and yet she had seemed to have answered him directly.  
"Don't ever believe them if they tell you again that I'm gone, Li-Li," he told her, feeling a little silly as he knew she couldn't hear him but having to say it anyway.  
"But you were gone, frills, only now you're back from infinity," she replied cryptically, her head cocked to one side and a quizical expression on her face.

Unable to believe what he was seeing, Phil Coulson sat back in his chair in amazement. Somehow his sister, who had been little more than a living zombie since the attack, seemed to be able to hear him and reply to him. He knew it wasn't possibe, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that this was a major discovery that he should report to SHIELD. Knowing he would never betray his blood, he looked at the screen as if he was meeting her gaze.  
"You can't tell anyone about this Amelia," he told her, sighing as she nodded her agreement to his request. "I love you, little one."  
"And I love you Philip," she whispered, smiling at the camera. She turned back to her original position and once more was the living statue she had been for over two years.

He reached forward to disconnect the feed when she suddenly whipped her head round and yelled to him "Beware the Bridge!". With a single blink she was back into her original state, as the feed from the camera ended suddenly. Cursing under his breath, he was trying to re-establish it when he heard movement on the lower level of the Bus. Moments later, Skye popped her head around his office door, looking refreshed and relaxed.  
"Hey boss," she greeted him, waving as she made her way towards her bunk. Hidden in the darkness, Grant crept slowly back towards the rear ramp of the plane, his mind racing with everything he had overheard from Coulson's office.


End file.
